Everyone needs medical attention
at times and so do musical instruments. From time to time, you may wish
to modify your guitar, your guitar may need re-fretting or re-wiring and
sometimes the neck needs adjustments. As guitar players, we have all picked
up sufficient know-how along the way to deal with minor problems of the
guitar. But at times, it is too much bother to try and fix the problem
yourself; it may be too time-consuming or you just don’t know where
the problem lies or the job on hand is just not something you can trust
yourself to undertake. Some music shops in Hong Kong offer repairs in
and the results are often amazing. I have seen guitars in worse conditions
after the repair. The victims ended up having to pay the shop rather than
vise versa.

If someone says he can
repair or modify your guitar, you would want to be careful. For a start,
you want to know his experience. But experience is not, per sa, sufficient.
What I look for in a repairman is whether he loves musical instruments,
whether he respects the musical instruments and take pride in his job.
I have had experience with competent repairmen in Hong Kong. Yes, they
can do the job but that is about it. They would do just enough to get
the job done. If with a small effort he can improve the instrument to
no need, very often you find them unwilling to make the effort. To them
it is just a job. To me that is never good enough.

A year and a half ago, I
need to replace the frets on my 1959 Les Paul Re-issue. The Les Paul has
a bound neck and it is not like changing the frets on a Fender neck. At
the time, I had only one Les Paul Re-issue and that was my number one.
I asked around and was introduced to Mr. Kevin Catalano. I met Kevin at
48th Street and told him what I wanted to do with the guitar. We ended
up talking about guitars for hours. It was the first time I met him, but
I could feel his love for musical instruments and he is a person who takes
pride in his work. I parted my Les Paul with him. When I got it back,
the frets are perfect. A few months ago, I had a dented fret on one of
my Steinbergers and wanted to have it replaced. Kevin was honest enough
to tell me the had never replaced frets on a Steinberger and the materials
on the fretboard makes the job very tricky. I entrusted him with the Steinberger
and he did an excellent job.